INFORMATION UPDATE "Offering Information Solutions" April, 2003 Number 43 A Monthly Publication of Shamel Information Services mailto:InfoUpdate@shamelinfo.com Welcome to INFORMATION UPDATE, the free monthly newsletter for people who need to know. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ IN THIS ISSUE ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ => Do It Yourself - Full Text Articles Online => Did You Know? - Not All Information is in English => Notes, News and Announcements => Subscribe/Unsubscribe Information Special Holiday Notice: For the top 100 April Fool's tricks of all time, visit the Museum of Hoaxes Web site at http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/top100.html My personal favorite is #2 - A 1977 article in the British newspaper The Guardian describes the celebration of the tenth anniversary of San Serriffe, a small republic located in the Indian Ocean consisting of several semi-colon-shaped islands. Its two main islands were named Upper Caisse and Lower Caisse. If you don't get the joke right off, you're not alone. See the entry on the Web site for more information (tee hee hee) ************************************************************ DO IT YOURSELF - Full Text Articles Online ************************************************************ If you've ever tried to locate journal/magazine articles on the Web, you have no doubt had limited success. A keyword search in a typical Internet search engine will yield all sorts of information, but not a nicely relevant list of full text articles. Earlier issues of Information Update have mentioned free sources such as Findarticles.com http://www.findarticles.com. This is a worthwhile source, but it is fairly limited in its scope. It indexes 300 titles with coverage back to 1998. For excellent coverage of popular and business literature, you might be able to turn to your public library for remote access to fully indexed full text articles. The San Diego Public Library eDesk is a good example of what may be available to you through your own public library. Library card holders can access the San Diego Public Library online catalog and databases from the library Web site at http://sdplweb.sannet.gov/ The site includes online resources categorized as Newspapers & Magazines; General Reference; Arts & Recreation; Business & Government; Education, Career & Law; Health, Science, & Technology; and Reading & Literature. The Newspapers & Magazines databases include InfoTrac with over 5000 magazines and journals, plus some newspapers. Proquest includes over 1400 newspapers and magazines. These databases have articles back to the mid-80's, and access is free to library card holders. The Business & Government databases include the RDS Business Suite from the Gale Group with databases focusing on Business & Industry; Business & Management Practices; and statistics in TableBase. Your own public library may subscribe to a slightly different selection of databases, but if they offer electronic resources to off-site users, it is likely that they will have something similar to those at San Diego Public. These online resources are highly specialized, organized, and controlled to offer quality, reliable information to users. To locate a library of interest to you, you might try search- ing LibDex: The Library Index which is an index to over 18,000 libraries at http://www.libdex.com/ ************************************************************ DO IT YOURSELF - Not All Information is in English ************************************************************ While English is the common language in many situations (scientific meetings are a good example), and English will serve the researcher well in most situations, there are times when a comprehensive search requires multiple languages. At Shamel Information Services we recently completed a pro- ject which required an in-depth look at a Japanese company. Most of the desired information came from the company's English language Web site and from the business databases available through The Dialog Corporation. This project required exhaustive research, however, and we wanted to be sure we didn't miss something. To address that need we brought in a bilingual colleague who searched the Japanese version of the company Web site and a Japanese language database for additional information for specific data points important to the client. For this project, the client could be assured that the search had extended to the most relevant English and Japanese language sources. When you or your company need information, consider the possibility that some of what you need may come from specialized foreign language databases or Web sites. There are professional searchers who can access this infor- mation for you. For more information, call Shamel Information Services at 858-673-4763. ************************************************************* Notes, News, and Announcements ************************************************************* >>Buying and Selling eContent, April 13-15, 2003, Scottsdale, AZ. Buying & Selling eContent 2003 will focus on strategic issues faced by top-level executives responsible for buying & selling content in the electronic marketplace. http://www.buy-sell-econtent.com/ >>American Urological Association, April 26-May 1, 2003, Chicago, IL. http://www.auanet.org/index_hi.cfm >>InfoToday, May 6-8, 2003, New York City, NY - The Global Conference and Exhibition on Electronic Information & Knowledge Management http://www.infotoday.com >>Association of Independent Information Professionals, May 1-4, 2003, Providence, RI. http://www.aiip.org ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The Shamel Information Services web site at http://shamelinfo.com contains Information Update archives. Just click on "Newsletters" and check for any issues you might have missed. Cynthia L. Shamel, editor Shamel Information Services Poway, California mailto:cshamel@shamelinfo.com Author, "Building a Brand: Got Librarian?" Searcher July/August, 2002. http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/default.htm Editor, "Online Market and Industry Research" South-Western Publishing Company, a division of Thomson Learning, forthcoming. President-Elect of the Association of Independent Information Professionals http://www.aiip.org. Telephone: 858-673-4673 Toll Free: 800-330-9939 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Subscriptions to INFORMATION UPDATE are free. You may subscribe or unsubscribe by sending a message to: mailto:InfoUpdate@shamelinfo.com with SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line. Copyright 2003 Shamel Information Services Please feel free to forward this issue to colleagues, in its entirety. Other uses without permission may violate copyright. Online archives at http://shamelinfo.com/newsletter.htm ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^